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What's My Line? - From Chicago: CBS News Convention Team; Perle Mesta (Aug 12, 1956)

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  • Опубликовано: 2 авг 2024
  • NOTE: This episode was broadcast from Chicago, Illinois.
    MYSTERY GUEST: CBS News Convention Team; Perle Mesta [socialite / U.S. ambassador to Luxemborg]
    PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Dr. Bergen Evans, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf

Комментарии • 271

  • @moonlightray8493
    @moonlightray8493 Год назад +8

    The peanut farmer was very dapper and handsome, and even his flowing handwriting is beautiful! He pulls off the "Colonel Sanders" tie very well, too.

  • @Rhonda9199
    @Rhonda9199 6 лет назад +72

    I wasn't born until 63 but remember hearing about this show growing up. Came across these shows about 6 months ago and it truly relaxes, entertains and even makes me feel better! I love watching and am thankful for all the uploads!

    • @AaronHahnStudios
      @AaronHahnStudios 4 года назад +2

      That was a very 'Angelical' comment. ;-)

    • @jahbay
      @jahbay 3 года назад +1

      I was born in 63 as well....

    • @gingerhaydon4693
      @gingerhaydon4693 Год назад +2

      I was 8 years old when this was aired...so many wonderful memories

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +44

    I love it when Dorothy gets all "school girlyish" and giggly! What a sweetheart!

  • @pmccoy8924
    @pmccoy8924 Год назад +8

    When news anchors were actual news anchors who were trusted.

  • @TomBarrister
    @TomBarrister 10 лет назад +62

    The Democratic Convention opened the day after this episode.
    Daly and Kilgallen were in Chicago to cover the convention: Daly as the anchor and vice president of News at ABC, and Kilgallen was for the Hearst newspaper syndicate.
    In his book "At Random ," Bennett Cerf recalls this show. The show's sponsor, Helene Curtis agreed to pay the costs of moving the show to Chicago for that episode, so Francis and Cerf also made the trip. The producers had gotten former president Harry Truman (who was attending the convention) to agree to be the mystery guest. As a formality, they had to clear this with both main sponsors. While Helene Curtis readily agreed, the show's other sponsor, Remington Rand, didn't. At the time, the chairman of Remington Rand (actually of the parent company Sperry Rand) was retired general Douglass MacArthur, who Truman had relieved of his command during the Korean War in 1951. MacArthur flat-vetoed the idea. This left the show with no mystery guest. While there were many notable politicians at the convention, almost all were running for some office, and the equal-time rules required the show to present one from each party; obviously, there weren't many Republican dignitaries in town. After some scrambling, they finally came up with Perle Mesta, who had been the mystery guest only a few months earlier. Kilgallen's reference to Mesta as "The hostess with the mostest" was well-deserved, as Mesta was well-known to host lavish parties for various political figures and celebrities.
    While President Truman never did get a chance to appear as mystery guest, his daughter Margaret did twice: in 1953 and 1956 and was a panelist on four occasions. All can be found here on RUclips, uploaded by the same fine person who's uploaded many other What's My Line videos, including this one.

    • @terryniblett9329
      @terryniblett9329 5 лет назад

      NO SHIT!!!!

    • @LazyIRanch
      @LazyIRanch 4 года назад +4

      Those shows were the only times I've seen Margaret Truman, and I thought she was adorable and charming. I read that many were very critical of her singing skills and disliked her intensely. After seeing her on WML? I don't know how she could be hated by anyone!

    • @slaytonp
      @slaytonp 4 года назад +3

      @@LazyIRanch As Harry S. Truman's daughter, she was subjected to political sport, especially before his own unique honesty and character became more appreciated over time. She did not sing all that well, and was no beauty queen, but her singing was not all that bad, and with character, you don't need much physical beauty. Music critic Paul Hume received a note from Harry Truman on White House stationery after a negative, rather cruel criticism of one of Margaret's concerts: the last part said, "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below." There was a lot of fuss about this, and ostensibly Paul Hume sold the note for $3,500. Margaret's father was a family man.

    • @iammrmat
      @iammrmat 4 года назад

      That's too bad Harry Truman didn't get to do the show. Has any ex-President appear on the show? I know future President Ronald Reagan appeared on the show earlier.

    • @Jimmy-rb1zz
      @Jimmy-rb1zz 3 года назад +1

      @@iammrmat To my knowledge, no former president has, but Gerald Ford appeared while still in Congress and Eleanor Roosevelt did around 1953.

  • @Beson-SE
    @Beson-SE 9 лет назад +54

    The second contestant was a mix of Errol Flynn and Fernando Lamas. 12:05 His name was Merrill Connally from Texas and his brother was John B. Connally (governor of Texas from 1963-1969) who sat in the car with president Kennedy during the ride through Dallas in 1963.

    • @johnwettermark
      @johnwettermark 9 лет назад +7

      He also had a film career, appearing in two Spielberg films and as Davy Crockett in the 1988 picture, Alamo. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_Connally

    • @Beson-SE
      @Beson-SE 8 лет назад +4

      +Jim Elliott The thought has occured to me too sometimes.

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +4

      The program Quantum Leap is science fiction. The idea that we need to fix something in the past is tempting, but in reality we don't know the consequences of changing one moment of history, especially if it involves someone influential. Edith Keeler is a much better science fiction example of the dangers of traveling back in time and changing things. Just ask the crew of the Enterprise who suddenly had no ship to communicate with because of what Dr. McCoy had done when he went back in time. ("The City on the Edge of Forever" episode of "Star Trek" - TOS) Kirk and Spock had to go back and find him to prevent him from changing history, a history that included Nazi Germany developing nuclear weapons and winning WWII.
      Of course, there's also the matter of whether the people involved would believe the warnings. An attempt by some unknown person to change the course of President Kennedy's motorcade through Dallas would have probably led to the person traveling back in time being suspected of an ulterior motive, detained and investigated. Trying to stop Oswald would have been risky with either the police arresting you for trying to get into the building or Oswald shooting you.
      Regardless, one can only speculate what would have happened had President Kennedy lived. How would that affected the 1964 election and the Vietnam War and the progress of the Cold War? Would the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed? The ripple effect would have been enormous. It's even possible that some of the younger people posting on this board would never have been born as a result of that one change.

    • @libertyann439
      @libertyann439 6 лет назад +1

      Johan Bengtsson. Wow. He's better looking than his brother.

    • @robbob1234
      @robbob1234 4 года назад

      @gcjerryusc The thought crossed my mind as well!

  • @loissimmons6558
    @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +25

    So interesting seeing all the CBS news team members with dark hair.

  • @1928gerry
    @1928gerry 5 лет назад +29

    The CBC newsmen were, if we can depend on anyone in the news media, honest in their reporting and were greatly respected.

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +3

      @1928gerry
      The newsmen were greatly respected and greatly trusted. Now, I can only name a very few news people who I trust.

    • @lynettepalecek3141
      @lynettepalecek3141 2 года назад +2

      No one in the mainstream news media is honest or trusting. Today, they all lie!!!!

    • @petersanders5321
      @petersanders5321 2 года назад +3

      When journalistic integrity actually did exist. Hard to believe, considering these days, but it really did.

  • @simonatheod6867
    @simonatheod6867 3 года назад +10

    That peanut farmer was very handsome

  • @soulierinvestments
    @soulierinvestments 9 лет назад +22

    RE: Puppet question. Cronkite did work with a lion puppet named Charlemagne on the CBS Morning News back in the early 1950s.

  • @miketheyunggod2534
    @miketheyunggod2534 5 лет назад +24

    Arlene was a real sweetie in this episode.

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +1

      @MiketheYung God
      I agree! Arlene's eyes positively sparkled when speaking with the peanut farmer.

    • @belindaalbright8798
      @belindaalbright8798 3 года назад

      Arlene liked to flirt with the handsome men. Some of her comments were quite suggestive for the early 1950's. Dorothy did her share of flirting too. They were beautiful, classy ladies!

  • @loissimmons6558
    @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +19

    Very clever to have four of the five newsmen signed in ahead of time and in place behind John Daly so only Walter Cronkite signed in and walked over to John's desk when they were back on the air. It reduced the chances that the panel would immediately know that more than one challenger was present.

    • @lynettepalecek3141
      @lynettepalecek3141 2 года назад +2

      WML has done that quite often when there was more than one Mystery Guest. It is a good idea.

  • @loissimmons6558
    @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +10

    President Carter became a peanut farmer (same profession as the second challenger) in 1953 upon leaving the U.S. Navy. But he didn't enter politics until the early 1960's and he won his first elective office in 1963 (Georgia State Senator).

  • @JJJBRICE
    @JJJBRICE 2 года назад +7

    All those great newsmen in one place ! Mrs. Mesta was portrayed by Ethel Merman in the musical CALL ME MADAM . She was a favorite of the Truman administration and continued her reign in the Eisenhower years . Oddly this ended in the Kennedy years . despite her being a personal friend of Mrs. Rose Kennedy . I guess her time had passed her by .

  • @Amolibros
    @Amolibros 7 лет назад +14

    Historic group!

  • @frankroper3274
    @frankroper3274 2 года назад +7

    Dorothy is my favorite and she was really sparking tonight!

    • @m.e.d.7997
      @m.e.d.7997 2 года назад +1

      She looks pretty here

  • @JJJBRICE
    @JJJBRICE 4 года назад +9

    Mr Daly was the head man at ABC news during this time . However he did formerly worked for CBS so he probably worked together with most if not all of the CBS newsmen as teammates . Note no one from rival NBC. The team of Huntley / Brinkley debuted in this 1956 convention .

  • @joannescholes3742
    @joannescholes3742 3 года назад +6

    MISS +ARLENE+...... +DOROTHY+.... +BENNETT+ .... AND +JOHN+...
    Of COURSE, WHAT’S MY LINE?😢😢😢😢😢😢. GREAT SHOW MANY MANY MANY YEARS AGO...😢😢😢

  • @roberttelarket4934
    @roberttelarket4934 Год назад +4

    I can’t believe Cronkite, Trout, Severeid, Douglas Edwards, Charles Collingwood are here!!!
    Robert Trout lived to be I think 99!

    • @Gwaithmir
      @Gwaithmir Год назад

      You're close. He died in 2000 at the age of 91. Of the cup of life, he enjoyed a full measure.

    • @enriquesanchez2001
      @enriquesanchez2001 Год назад +2

      WHEN newscasters were HONORABLE

    • @peternagy-im4be
      @peternagy-im4be Год назад +1

      @@enriquesanchez2001 as well as politicians....

  • @randylovering24
    @randylovering24 8 лет назад +16

    five CBS news legends

    • @slaytonp
      @slaytonp 4 года назад +2

      @@johndonahue3162 I wish we still had the likes of their credibility in any news organization.

  • @francanino7087
    @francanino7087 9 лет назад +37

    love how pretty and elegant Dorothy looks in this episode...

    • @Majestal1
      @Majestal1 5 лет назад +4

      She always does!!

    • @lynettepalecek3141
      @lynettepalecek3141 2 года назад +1

      @@Majestal1 Only when she had her natural dark hair.

    • @m.e.d.7997
      @m.e.d.7997 2 года назад

      She does look especially pretty.

    • @stevekru6518
      @stevekru6518 2 года назад

      You all realize Dorothy is the funny looking one stage left. The pretty one, seated toward the center, is Arlene

    • @m.e.d.7997
      @m.e.d.7997 2 года назад

      @@stevekru6518 Dorothys looks improved over the years

  • @leannsherman6723
    @leannsherman6723 Год назад +8

    Walter Cronkite was such a classy gentleman. He did a great job disguising his voice; funny guy! They were all the epitome of class.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 7 лет назад +16

    Near the end of the first segment Walter started to use his real voice. But in 1956 he was not yet widely known, like DE.

  • @henjutsu1
    @henjutsu1 6 лет назад +11

    At 15:12, Bennett asks if it's a grain and is turned down. Peanuts are actually legumes, which are a grain.

    • @jenniferyorgan4215
      @jenniferyorgan4215 5 лет назад +4

      @henjutsu1
      Legumes, including beans, lentils, soybeans, peanuts and peas, are plants with seed pods that split in half. They are an inexpensive, nutritionally dense source of plant protein. Legumes may be counted as a vegetable or as a source of protein in the meat and bean group.What Food Group Are Legumes In? | Livestrong.com
      Legumes are of the Leguminosae family. They enclose their seeds inside their pods - these seeds are the food that we eat. When both the seed and the pod is consumed - as with green beans and snow peas - the legume is considered to be a vegetable. Under the legume umbrella we have beans, lentils, peas, and peanuts.Oct 22, 2014Difference between: beans and legumes -

    • @debbigray1752
      @debbigray1752 2 года назад

      Yup. With their fine grasp of vocabulary you'd think they'd know legume.

  • @ChristinaOurWoodHome
    @ChristinaOurWoodHome 4 года назад +15

    interesting that Arlene gave her address to the last contestant! I can't imagine a celebrity nowadays doing that on TV!

    • @stmilo
      @stmilo 2 года назад +3

      In a later episode, Arlene’s husband, Martin Gabel refused to identify the neighborhood where they lived. He said something like ‘it wouldn’t be a good idea to say it on the air’.

  • @FeggyMin
    @FeggyMin Год назад +3

    the 2nd contestant was sooo handsome looking and reminded me a lil bit of Gregory Peck !!

    • @aprilove2005
      @aprilove2005 4 месяца назад

      Even the voice was great, like GP

  • @terrihenricks4160
    @terrihenricks4160 5 лет назад +17

    Perle Mesta was obviously a household name in 1956, but would draw a blank for most people today. Thank goodness for Wikipedia.

    • @lynettepalecek3141
      @lynettepalecek3141 2 года назад +1

      I noticed Wikipedia lies at times. I don't trust them.

  • @WWJD85
    @WWJD85 7 лет назад +16

    This episode aired about a week before my dad was born.

    • @krystonjones
      @krystonjones 5 лет назад +1

      Thanks, I was wanting to know that.

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +3

      @@krystonjones
      And we all wanted to read your rude comment to someone who is probably still quite young, and pondering the passage of time, as we all do, especially when young.

  • @ericstuart7748
    @ericstuart7748 4 года назад +7

    At this time Douglas Edwards was still the anchor of the CBS Evening News. He should have been in the chair instead of Cronkite.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +9

    Perle Mesta, messed around a lot with poiticos, however. Here's what Wikipedia had to say"
    She was active in the National Woman's Party and was an early supporter of an Equal Rights Amendment. She switched to the Democratic Party in 1940 and was an early supporter of Harry S. Truman, who rewarded her with the ambassadorship to Luxembourg. Former President Richard M. Nixon said in grand jury testimony after the fallout of Watergate and his resignation, in June 1975, that Mesta was appointed by Truman because: "Perle Mesta wasn't sent to Luxembourg because she had big bosoms. Perle Mesta went to Luxembourg because she made a good contribution."[3]
    But Mesta is most noted for her parties, which brought together senators, congressmen, cabinet secretaries and other luminaries in bipartisan soirées of high-class glamour." An additional note, Wiki says she switched back to the Republican Party in 1961.

    • @accomplice55
      @accomplice55 3 года назад +1

      She was the basis for the Irving Berlin musical "Call Me Madam."

  • @ericstuart7748
    @ericstuart7748 4 года назад +4

    Douglas Edwards should have been the one sitting as he was the anchor of the CBS evening news.

  • @JanetM-ro6xc
    @JanetM-ro6xc 11 месяцев назад +2

    Merrill Connally was a treat: John Connally's brother, a classic Texan,and charming.

    • @JanetM-ro6xc
      @JanetM-ro6xc 11 месяцев назад +1

      His left eyebrow has a life of its own! Peanut as a vegetable??? Bizarre!
      Arlene would LOVE Texas!

  • @MrYfrank14
    @MrYfrank14 5 лет назад +36

    back when newscasters only told us the news.
    not whatever this social media, dramatic acting, propaganda, politically one-sided, opinion piece, tell us what to think, that we have now.

    • @JDAbelRN
      @JDAbelRN 4 года назад +2

      For the exception of Uncle Walter. 🇺🇸😃

    • @davidsanderson5918
      @davidsanderson5918 4 года назад +6

      MrYfrank14 "Let's hear from our political correspondent...." That's when I switch off. I want news, not opinion.

    • @preppysocks209
      @preppysocks209 4 года назад +5

      So much has changed since the 1950s. In the early years of our country, we had purely partisan news coverage. Then we had yellow journalism. Then due mostly to Walter Lippmann and Ochs, we had more professional journalists, who sought to be objective and who viewed their audience as the politicians rather than the viewer, and the citizen was a spectator of news. . Once technology allowed new networks not so broadly focused, and even more once anyone could post and blog, journalism became more democratic and we have come back full circle to the days of partisan journalism that is self-selected and results in confirmation bias. But this has changed before and maybe it will again.

    • @keithhyttinen8275
      @keithhyttinen8275 3 года назад

      Yes. Fox.

    • @lynettepalecek3141
      @lynettepalecek3141 2 года назад +2

      The msm now is controlled by the CCP Communist Marxists and that's why they lie about everything political. It's sickening.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 7 лет назад +8

    Douglas Edwards didn't really disguise his voice and he was the anchor of the evening news back then!

  • @sansacro007
    @sansacro007 Месяц назад

    Mr. Peanut, so dapper! Straight out of the cast of Giant!

  • @kylepiccoli4762
    @kylepiccoli4762 7 месяцев назад

    Seeing Cronkite out there with his boys is like watching a 50s version of “The Anchorman”

  • @icturner23
    @icturner23 3 года назад +4

    Mr. Connally is a dish, but not the sharpest if he thinks peanut plants aren’t alive!

    • @icturner23
      @icturner23 3 года назад +2

      But, wow, he is just delicious.

    • @icturner23
      @icturner23 3 года назад +1

      He’s just so arch in arching his eyebrows. Such a charmer.

  • @93BlazinFire
    @93BlazinFire 3 года назад +3

    24:29 It's hilarious how the whole panel leans back, ahahah

  • @loissimmons6558
    @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +5

    Walter Cronkite responds to John Daly's question about the scoring system and the first question from the panel. When the second panel question is asked, Daly motions for Bob Trout to answer but Cronkite answers instead. In response, Daly makes a mock admonishing gesture towards Cronkite. (4:05)

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +2

      @Lois Simmons
      I noticed this, too. I also noticed he used his regular voice when answering John Daly's question about the scoring system, but then disguised his voice to answer Dorothy's first question just a moment later.

  • @randylovering24
    @randylovering24 8 лет назад +6

    the first road show of wml in Chicago

  • @patriciamooney928
    @patriciamooney928 2 года назад +2

    Amazing! Arlene gave her a dress on TV!

  • @jvcomedy
    @jvcomedy 9 лет назад +19

    Wow, Eric Sevareid is so young he's unrecognizable and Cronkite is only 40, but looks 60.

    • @slaytonp
      @slaytonp 4 года назад +6

      Cronkite was born looking 60, and didn't change after that.

    • @dianefiske-foy4717
      @dianefiske-foy4717 4 года назад +1

      I don’t think he looked that old!

    • @williamneumyer7147
      @williamneumyer7147 3 года назад +2

      Yes, one of those people who never really look young.

    • @LorenIpsum75
      @LorenIpsum75 Год назад +1

      When I was a kid, Walter Cronkite reminded me of comedian Frank Nelson (Jack Benny's "Yessss..." man).

    • @sansacro007
      @sansacro007 Месяц назад

      Gave him gravitas and surely helped his career. America's (gran)dad

  • @charlesmeadows6285
    @charlesmeadows6285 6 лет назад +3

    As I remember,Douglas Edwards from there,went on to anchor the network’s midday news for a long time before he retired some years ago...in answer to the last one-yes it’s from the WBBM-TV facilities,which was on N McClurg Court at that time.

    • @ericstuart7748
      @ericstuart7748 4 года назад +1

      Edwards continued to do the evening news till the early 60's. After that he did a few daily radio newscasts in addition to the mid day TV news.

  • @jdlft.w836
    @jdlft.w836 2 года назад +1

    Mr. Connaly is from Floresville, TX (pop. 8700). I had to Google it. the most promenant feature on the Google Map is the Connaly Mememorial Hospital.

  • @emteemac
    @emteemac 9 лет назад +9

    I wonder whatever became of that Walter Crankcase guy. He was funny.

  • @wchumphries
    @wchumphries 8 лет назад +7

    Gracious of Bennett to compliment Dr. Evans (on the other hand, his book WAS published by Random House :) )

    • @WhatsMyLine
      @WhatsMyLine  8 лет назад +7

      Going even further, Bennett was always giving very complimentary unprompted plugs to guests who had books published by OTHER firms when the occasion arose. It's one the things I find admirable about him.

    • @ToddSF
      @ToddSF 8 лет назад +6

      Bennett always complimented distinguished authors, no matter the publisher. So he would have been remiss if he didn't publish an author published by Random House, complimenting all authors but the ones he published. My impression is that he respected what authors did and he probably took the view that no one publishing house, not even his own, could publish every author out there, and I'm sure he didn't want to stir up any ill will in the literary circles in which he himself moved. (I have no reason to think that Bennett Cerf was in any way mean-spirited.)

    • @wchumphries
      @wchumphries 8 лет назад +6

      ToddSF 94109 "At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf" is a fascinating read, and gives great insight into Bennett's thoughts and attitudes.

    • @ToddSF
      @ToddSF 8 лет назад +6

      wchumphries I read it and enjoyed it and found it very interesting. The good news is I was able to get it as an eBook, and it still had all the black-and-white photos published with the book. I've always liked Bennett Cerf and reading his memoirs made me like him all the more.

    • @sleb99
      @sleb99 5 лет назад +2

      wchumphries I’m currently reading this book. I find it well written and fascinating!

  • @Mmdmade
    @Mmdmade 3 года назад +3

    Peanuts are a live product

  • @jessc6119
    @jessc6119 2 года назад +2

    I must come to the comments to say peanuts are NOT vegetables, they are legumes! 🤣 (Members of the pea family)

    • @gwenniegirl50
      @gwenniegirl50 2 месяца назад

      Maybe source information varies but as of 2022, the USDA Dietary Guidelines classifies legumes as vegetables.

  • @anntaylor2039
    @anntaylor2039 4 года назад +3

    Dorothy was very pretty here !

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +6

    I doubt that in 1956 the general audience (especially given the rather tepid, comparatively speaking, reception she got from the studio audience) would have recognized Perle Mesta. Here is a short clip of her some years later from "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar, where she became somewhat of a semi-regular Original Tonight Show Clips Jack Paar

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +2

      +Joe Postove
      I was thinking along similar lines. It seemed to me that the CBS broadcast team covering the convention would have had more public recognition than Perle Mesta and that it would have been more logical to swap their segments.

    • @neilmidkiff
      @neilmidkiff 4 года назад +2

      Since the central character of Irving Berlin's "Call Me Madam" was based on her, and CBS Playhouse 90 was doing a real bio on her, I think she had a higher public profile than you imagine.

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +2

      @@loissimmons6558
      She was extremely well-known. People knew her as the rich lady who threw the lavish parties. She was filthy rich. Her parents were wealthy and then she married a wealthy man who became even more incredibly wealthy, who then died early and left her an astonishing amount of money (equal to 1.14 billion dollars today). She threw outrageously lavish parties. Everyone knew who she was.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 4 года назад +2

    Cronkite DID use puppets on the CBS Morning Show which he hosted about 1954-55

    • @JJJBRICE
      @JJJBRICE 2 года назад

      i believe Dick Van Dyke was the host, Cronkite did the news , Barbara Walters was one of the writers , and the then famous Baird puppets ( Hinson was probably a local DC outfit ) . They were strange bedfellows .

  • @MusicalArtists
    @MusicalArtists 8 лет назад +4

    John Daley almost gives it away at 7:30 when he refers to the guests as "they" before it has been established whether it is single person or a group.

  • @beadyeyedbrat
    @beadyeyedbrat 8 месяцев назад

    Love Cronkite's voice ❤

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +6

    Does anyone know who was on the CBS Radio Network team in 1956. I'd bet it's makeup was almost entirely different (little sharing even in 1956) and that Ed Murrow was probably the anchor. John Daly's old crewmates still seemed to have much affection for him despite lowering himself to the depths of ABC News which was a tugboat then compared to the S.S. CBS.

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +6

      While I could not find a definitive list, I did read a 1957 article by ABC newsman Quincy Howe which mentioned that Bob Trout, who had made his mark originally in radio, continued to cover the political conventions on radio. So the assumption is that some of the news reporters were carried on radio as well as on television, perhaps simulcast on a number of occasions.
      Quincy Howe covered the convention for ABC with John Daly. Here's a picture of them together in their booth at the 1956 Democratic National Convention. Unless it is a staged shot, they were apparently providing convention coverage in mid-afternoon.
      4.bp.blogspot.com/-V0lUVHIumCo/VbJ2o1O7yAI/AAAAAAAACSI/ShSDIIDLj2U/s1600/John_Daly_Quincy_Howe_ABC_Presidential_convention_1956.JPG
      In the article by Howe, he mentions a significant difference in the approach to news between CBS and ABC. His network was committed to present a wide range of political viewpoints from conservative to liberal, featuring such newsmen/commentators as Paul Harvey, George E. Sokolsky, Erwin D. Canham, Edward P. Morgan, John W. Vandercook, and Cecil Brown.
      In contrast all the featured reporters at CBS, while having individual personal opinions on the issues, generally had a liberal perspective on news matters. However, they were held to a stricter standard of objectively reporting the news and there were far more stringent limits on presenting commentary during CBS news broadcasts. Indeed Brown had been rebuked by the CBS news director in 1943 for giving what CBS considered news commentary during a radio news broadcast. Brown opined that enthusiasm for the war was "evaporating into thin air." In response, Brown resigned his position with CBS and began to work for the Mutual Network. He also worked for NBC during his broadcasting career.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +3

    Dougas Edwards made no attempt to disguise his voice as he perhaps should have done, more than any of the others, since was on every week night as Anchor of CBS News (1947-62).

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +2

      By the time Douglas Edwards spoke, there was already such a jumble of voices that it was difficult to tell what was what. I was surprised that it took the panel as long as it did to ascertain that there was more than one person challenging them.

  • @brandonflorida1092
    @brandonflorida1092 Год назад +2

    Since when are peanuts not alive?

  • @bluecamus5162
    @bluecamus5162 2 года назад +1

    Looks like a Kinescope recording.

  • @robbycan
    @robbycan 3 года назад +7

    How does a peanut farmer not work with something that's alive? And peanuts certainly have an aroma, sorry.

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +2

      @robbycan
      The question was "Does the product have a distinctive odor" and they do not. "Distinctive odor" would be things like onions, oranges, vinegar, brewed coffee, rotting carrion, etc.

  • @multoc
    @multoc 3 года назад +5

    Any idea which theater in Chicago this was filmed?

    • @rmelin13231
      @rmelin13231 Год назад

      That's a good question. I wish it had been announced.

  • @sansacro007
    @sansacro007 Месяц назад

    Ah, when Newscasters (Newsmen!) were trusted and impartial! Dose were the dayz!

  • @teddavidson
    @teddavidson 3 года назад +2

    A peanut farmer as guest. Sort of anticipates the convention to come twenty years later.

  • @enriquesanchez2001
    @enriquesanchez2001 10 лет назад +4

    32 East 64th Street - Nice address for Arlene!

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +2

      Indeed a very ornate looking six story apartment building just east of Madison Avenue, sharing the block with a similar but taller building across the street and smaller brownstones as one moved eastward away from Central Park. She lived fairly close to where Fred Allen had lived at the time of his death. Interesting how comfortable she was giving out her home address over the air, even though people would still need to know which apartment she lived in (and no doubt there was a doorman).

    • @preppysocks209
      @preppysocks209 4 года назад

      By 1960, she no longer lived at address, but on East 57th St., where the accident with the weight occurred.

  • @ChrisHansonCanada
    @ChrisHansonCanada Год назад +2

    5:14 Interesting that movies were still being called "moving pictures" in 1956. The first segment was a snooze.

  • @sansacro007
    @sansacro007 Месяц назад

    Bennett used some extra darkening Brycreem for this episode!

  • @WendyDarling1974
    @WendyDarling1974 4 года назад +3

    They couldn’t recognize Walter Cronkite’s voice? Weird.

    • @iammrmat
      @iammrmat 4 года назад +5

      He wasn't as famous then as he later became.

  • @jpireri6777
    @jpireri6777 7 лет назад +3

    Anyone else think John Daly is about to pop a cough drop at 19:12?

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +8

    DR. Bergen Evans! Is not CELERY a green vegetable?

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +3

      +Joe Postove
      Well, if one of the very first questions asked if the second challenger dealt with something alive and the answer was "no" and not challenged by the panelists during or after the questioning, then perhaps we only think celery is green. I'd love to hear the explanation of how peanuts can grow in the ground (a later question by the panel, one that was answered "yes") without being alive. Did they think they were like those magic crystals we saw the ads for in the comic books ("just add water and watch them grow")?
      The paucity of STEM knowledge among celebrities and (even more sadly) members of the news media is appalling.

    • @rogerknights857
      @rogerknights857 5 лет назад +3

      @@loissimmons6558 "I'd love to hear the explanation of how peanuts can grow in the ground (a later question by the panel, one that was answered "yes") without being alive."
      On another show, Daly said that according to the show's terms of reference, "alive" meant animal life only. The regualar panelists seemed to be aware of this, because I recall several questions of the form "Is this something that is alive or has ever been alive?" being answered No when the product was made from cotton or cane or straw, etc.-and there was no protest later when the product was revealed.

    • @randyhutton9371
      @randyhutton9371 2 года назад

      ​@@loissimmons6558 ...as described in C.P. Snowe's The Two Cultures.

  • @ChrisHansonCanada
    @ChrisHansonCanada Год назад

    That was a weird looking long shot of the panel just before they were introduced.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +2

    The panel didn't watch much television as they would have picked on some of the voices at least half way though the contest.

  • @keithnaylor1981
    @keithnaylor1981 2 года назад

    Never thought of any kind of nut as a vegetable!
    I would imagine that of all the shows in which Dorothy appeared she had the greatest number of correct guesses.

    • @sbalman
      @sbalman Год назад

      It's not technically classified as a nut.

    • @debbigray1752
      @debbigray1752 Год назад +1

      It's a legume.

  • @teddytodorova
    @teddytodorova 4 года назад +4

    24.30 They leaned at the same time!

  • @YY4Me133
    @YY4Me133 Год назад +1

    Didn't these people know that plants are alive?

  • @Cruz0e
    @Cruz0e 3 года назад +1

    at age 44 i had to watch this show.. to find out that nuts are vegetables :)

    • @lisahinton9682
      @lisahinton9682 3 года назад +5

      @Crusoe
      And sorry, but peanuts are not nuts. They're legumes. A vegetable, indeed. 😋😁🤗

  • @ChrisHansonCanada
    @ChrisHansonCanada Год назад +1

    "Are the blindfolds all in place, panel?" He asked the same question on every damn show.

  • @JackDecker63
    @JackDecker63 8 лет назад +3

    Anyone know how many road shows WML did? And where and when?

    • @norelcopc2431
      @norelcopc2431 8 лет назад +5

      As far as I know WML went on the road twice. This time in Chicago and once to Hollywood around 1957.

    • @LaptopLarry330
      @LaptopLarry330 8 лет назад +3

      They also did a couple of remote broadcasts in Miami, Florida (Florida Orange Juice was their sponsor on those shows). Perhaps one of the shows took place during the same week "The Ed Sullivan Show" did a special broadcast of the show there, to allow The Beatles to perform for the second week in a row, after their colossal TV ratings bonanza the previous week, at the start of their very first US Tour in 1964.

    • @randylovering24
      @randylovering24 5 лет назад +3

      The one in Chicago in 1956 and the one in Hollywood in 1958

    • @randylovering24
      @randylovering24 5 лет назад +1

      @@LaptopLarry330 no they didn't have a show in Miami Beach sorry

  • @sdkelmaruecan2907
    @sdkelmaruecan2907 7 месяцев назад

    I am looking for another episode where they had a big guy from Texas and Daly says "it had to be Texas" and shortly after the Texan says "you better believe it", which episode was that?

  • @epaddon
    @epaddon 10 лет назад +6

    Bennett Cerf would say years later that Perle Mesta was a last minute substitute for former President Truman as the Mystery Guest because sponsor Remington Rand vetoed Truman appearing (as Douglas MacArthur was at that point the honorary Chairman of Remington). The story has always frankly struck me as a little dubious.

    • @WhatsMyLine
      @WhatsMyLine  10 лет назад +2

      I've never heard that story, but I agree, it sounds dubious to me, too. Then again, Truman did do a guest shot on Jack Benny's TV show (to promote the new Truman library), so I guess it's possible.

    • @ImaCOTV
      @ImaCOTV 8 лет назад +2

      +What's My Line? I don't know that it is particularly surprising that Truman was supposed to do the show. He was the elder statesman of the Democratic Party which was about to start its 1956 Convention in Chicago the next day. He was very familiar with the show because of the number of times his daughter Margaret had appeared both as a mystery guest and as a panelist. Finally it Truman retired from the presidency with quite a significant debt that he never fully paid off so the appearance fee for a show like this (guests were paid an appearance fee on top of any money they won with the panel in the days before John started flipping all of the cards over for almost every guest), would have been quite welcome.
      As for the rest, well MacArthur was the Chairman of Remington Rand (not the honorary chairman) although there is some question of how much power he actually had after Remington Rand was purchased by Sperry in 1955. Remington Rand remained as a subdivision of Sperry Rand for many years, but whether it needed a chairman or not is another question. Certainly one thing is true...MacArthur was a man who knew how to hold a grudge.

    • @WhatsMyLine
      @WhatsMyLine  8 лет назад +3

      Brent McKee Mystery guests received a flat appearance fee. There was no actual prize money involved.
      The info you offered is interesting. . . but I'd say it's pretty surprising you wouldn't find it surprising to think of a former U.S. president appearing on a game show. It's pretty surprising that Eleanor Roosevelt was a WML guest. In any event, we have to bear in mind with any of these unsubstantiated, unverified anecdotes that they may be completely untrue, or grossly exaggerated for effect, especially when it's a guy like Bennett Cerf telling the tale. Seems an odd detail to for the producer of WML to leave out of his book on the show, doesn't it? He took great pride in having had Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford on the later syndicated series before they were presidents.
      It could very well be true, but it could also not be true. And surprising, it is.

    • @519djw6
      @519djw6 8 лет назад +4

      I'm rather inclined to believe Bennet Cerf's account of why Harry Truman didn't appear as the "Mystery Guest" on this segment of WML. Having read both "American Caesar," William Manchester's biography of MacArthur, and "Truman," by David McCullough, it's almost impossible to underestimate the enmity that Truman and MacArthur felt for one another--although Truman, a man with a greater sense of humor than "The General," was more apt to apt to get a kick out of how petty his former subordinate could be. (In Cerf's telling of the incident, he said something to the effect that HST thought it was hilarious---or words to that effect--that "Dugout Doug" could hold a grudge so long and go to such lengths to get his "revenge.")

    • @epaddon
      @epaddon 8 лет назад +1

      The part that I find dubious is the idea that MacArthur *himself* would have had anything to do with nixing Truman. MacArthur's chairmanship of Remington Rand was just a ceremonial title and where would he be in position to do anything about controlling WML? I am willing to believe that someone else at Remington might have taken it upon himself to nix Truman out of perceived respect for MacArthur, but that MacArthur himself could have gotten involved in the process is what I'm not inclined to believe.

  • @MrJoeybabe25
    @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад +1

    Did hoist the NY set to Chicago for this broadcast?

    • @VahanNisanian
      @VahanNisanian 10 лет назад +1

      Joe Postove Do you mean to say if they brought to set to Chicago? Yes, they did.
      But when they did the CBS Television City episode in Hollywood, CA in January 1958, they did not. The desks used were similar, but were not the exact same ones used in NY.

    • @MrJoeybabe25
      @MrJoeybabe25 10 лет назад

      ***** No, I thought they brought it. I wanted to know if they hoisted it. Or at least heaved it. :)

    • @VahanNisanian
      @VahanNisanian 10 лет назад +2

      Joe Postove If you look carefully at where the challengers that night sat in, you can clearly see blotch marks on that part of the desk. They weren't there during the Hollywood-based episode (meaning the desk wasn't shipped from NY).

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +1

      +Joe Postove
      At 25:26, the announcer explains that the WML production was flown to Chicago on American Airlines. That way, WML didn't have to be hoisted on their own petard.

  • @commandoxy
    @commandoxy 7 лет назад +4

    Miss Arlene says her address in New York, near Central Park.

    • @YoBoyMarcus
      @YoBoyMarcus 5 лет назад +3

      Indeed, something which would never happen today.

    • @thebestisyettocome4114
      @thebestisyettocome4114 5 лет назад +7

      This was Not her address!!! It was her radio Studio's address in NYC.
      Her radio show was five days a week live. I lived in NYC at that moment and time. From Los Angeles. Best regards 👍

  • @lindafurr2404
    @lindafurr2404 2 года назад

    Does anyone know why Dorothy always looks to the upward right when she is introduced?

  • @calliopivogiatzis2235
    @calliopivogiatzis2235 Год назад

    Was the peanut farmer related to Jimmy Carter?

  • @llyngibson4160
    @llyngibson4160 3 года назад

    Dorothy has such a pronounced tendon in her neck & it's to the side.

    • @sandrageorge3488
      @sandrageorge3488 3 года назад

      I was thinking that may be one of the reasons she had different ailments??? Thyroid????

  • @calliopivogiatzis2235
    @calliopivogiatzis2235 2 года назад

    Did mr. Conolly know Jimmy Carter?

  • @debbigray1752
    @debbigray1752 Год назад

    Now arent peanuts legumes and not a vegetable?

  • @bluchu22
    @bluchu22 Год назад

    11:25 pretty sure that’s the only time John got violent with a contestant

  • @hot88s23
    @hot88s23 6 лет назад +9

    Peanuts are not alive?

    • @Sylvander1911
      @Sylvander1911 5 лет назад +4

      Not in the normal terms of reference - it usually referred to the animal kingdom

    • @princeharming8963
      @princeharming8963 5 лет назад +1

      @@Sylvander1911 - Superb answer!

    • @bobanderson6656
      @bobanderson6656 3 года назад +1

      @@Sylvander1911 Also, they're roasted before they get the consumer, hence they are dead at that time.

    • @brandonflorida1092
      @brandonflorida1092 Год назад

      @@Sylvander1911 Regardless of usually, plants are alive.

    • @brandonflorida1092
      @brandonflorida1092 Год назад

      @@bobanderson6656 That wasn't the question. It was whether he deals with anything alive.

  • @lisakane6708
    @lisakane6708 11 месяцев назад

    who were the 4 guys standing behind john daly?

  • @jmccracken1963
    @jmccracken1963 10 лет назад +2

    Out of curiosity: was this show aired from the WBBM-TV studios (CBS' Chicago TV station) on McClurg Court?

    • @WhatsMyLine
      @WhatsMyLine  10 лет назад

      Well, I haven't the foggiest idea. Anyone?

    • @TomBarrister
      @TomBarrister 10 лет назад +5

      Yes, it was. As far as I know, it was the first show aired nationally from the McClurg studio, which opened in 1956. WBBM also hosted the first of the Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960.

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +1

      What I noticed was that the acoustics were far better in this studio than the one that WML used in NYC at the time.

  • @libertyann439
    @libertyann439 6 лет назад +4

    Peanuts are legumes. Dorothy looks great here and WTF is Pearl Mesta?
    I collect buttons. I've never sat on one...😏

    • @sleb99
      @sleb99 5 лет назад +1

      liberty Ann and plants are alive!

    • @accomplice55
      @accomplice55 3 года назад

      I'll bet you could if you tried.

  • @EasyPolitics123
    @EasyPolitics123 10 лет назад +1

    This is the only episode, that I've seen, where the female panelists stand when the guest (Perle Mesta) exits the stage.

    • @WhatsMyLine
      @WhatsMyLine  10 лет назад +2

      It happened on occasion, but usually as clear show of respect for a figure of great prominence, e.g., Eleanor Roosevelt. Why they would have stood for Perle Mesta, I don't know!

    • @EasyPolitics123
      @EasyPolitics123 10 лет назад +5

      Likely because of her esteem within the the social circles of the day.

    • @JackDecker63
      @JackDecker63 8 лет назад +1

      +EasyPolitics123 They also did it for a priest (I think a cardinal) and Frank Lloyd Wright ... so far. [I'm watching all the episodes in chronological order.] Those and, as our What's My Line? channel host mentioned, Eleanor Roosevelt. I had always assumed it was to show their deep respect for the individual, but I have no idea why they did for Perle Mesta.

    • @juliansinger
      @juliansinger 8 лет назад +1

      +Jack Decker I went back to check, and they stood for Mesta in her 1952 appearance, too. But that makes more sense, since she was an active Ambassador at that point. Maybe it's just her former Ambassador-ship.

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +5

      I think it was also done for some in recognition of those MG's being clearly the elders of the female panelists.

  • @VTMCompany
    @VTMCompany 5 лет назад +2

    17:36 Who is this?

  • @44032
    @44032 6 лет назад +4

    Severaid didn't want to join in. I suspect he wished hew as somewhere else. Does Daly have a new toupee?

    • @jackkomisar458
      @jackkomisar458 3 года назад +5

      I think he seemed to fade into the background because there was no microphone close to him. But he was the one who answered Dorothy Kilgallen's question about whether they would be getting paid for appearing at the convention by saying, "A little." That cracked everyone up.

  • @drchilledair
    @drchilledair 8 лет назад +5

    Was Walter Cronkite the first contestant in WML history who DIDN'''T understand the scoring system? In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon."

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +3

      In the early days before the show became well-known, the challengers wouldn't have been familiar with the scoring and at first they weren't even asked. Later, occasionally someone from a foreign country wasn't familiar with it.
      In this case, I think it might have been a ploy by Cronkite to throw a curve ball at the panel. There was something in his attitude and the smile on his face that tells me his answer wasn't on the level.

    • @TheCometHunter
      @TheCometHunter 6 лет назад

      The kettle calls the pot black! Quite a few guests answered in the negative simply to throw off the panel.

    • @krystonjones
      @krystonjones 5 лет назад +1

      Sometimes ordinary people trying to be comedians are painful & embarrassing. & who found the Dr. ring in panelist?

  • @JackDecker63
    @JackDecker63 8 лет назад +1

    I am surprised that Walter Cronkite and company didn't go over to shake the panel's hands like the celebrities they were. They didn't before because the panel was blindfolded. In fact, I think most "contestants" wish they could shake the panel's hands afterwards since they no longer did so at the beginning of their segments. Oh well. Old habits endure. Though this "rule" was broken on occasion as what happened when Frank Lloyd Wright was the first mystery guest and then went over to shake the panel's hands.

    • @loissimmons6558
      @loissimmons6558 7 лет назад +2

      My guess is that five people going through the "receiving line" would have taken too much show time.

  • @VTMCompany
    @VTMCompany 6 лет назад +2

    17:35 Who?

    • @davidsanderson5918
      @davidsanderson5918 4 года назад

      Victor TalkingMachine I ask that often if they aren't movie stars!

  • @algoritmosalfredohipicasig7116
    @algoritmosalfredohipicasig7116 5 лет назад +1

    Peanuts are vegetables? Were they nuts? This show was sorely missing a comedian, except for convention politicians, don't forget Pres. Reagan once classified Ketchup a vegetable.

    • @jenniferyorgan4215
      @jenniferyorgan4215 5 лет назад +1

      @Alfredo Santiago
      Legumes, including beans, lentils, soybeans, peanuts and peas, are plants with seed pods that split in half. They are an inexpensive, nutritionally dense source of plant protein. Legumes may be counted as a vegetable or as a source of protein in the meat and bean group.What Food Group Are Legumes In? | Livestrong.com
      Legumes are of the Leguminosae family. They enclose their seeds inside their pods - these seeds are the food that we eat. When both the seed and the pod is consumed - as with green beans and snow peas - the legume is considered to be a vegetable. Under the legume umbrella we have beans, lentils, peas, and peanuts.Oct 22, 2014Difference between: beans and legumes -

  • @nunya321
    @nunya321 2 года назад

    @6:31 "Ku Klux Klan" *everyone laughs*

    • @peternagy-im4be
      @peternagy-im4be Год назад

      Sure. Why not?

    • @nunya321
      @nunya321 Год назад

      @@peternagy-im4be right at home for you :)

    • @peternagy-im4be
      @peternagy-im4be Год назад

      @Brandon M. OK Brandon. Y'all be having yourself a great day y'all

    • @jasonayres
      @jasonayres Год назад

      Bennett Cerf: Do you work with puppets?
      Everyone laughs.
      Man sitting next to John Daly: "Ku Klux Klan".
      Everyone laughs.

  • @kasperjoonatan6014
    @kasperjoonatan6014 5 лет назад +1

    A peanut is more fruit than vegetable.

    • @jenniferyorgan4215
      @jenniferyorgan4215 5 лет назад +2

      @KasparJoonatan
      Legumes, including beans, lentils, soybeans, peanuts and peas, are plants with seed pods that split in half. They are an inexpensive, nutritionally dense source of plant protein. Legumes may be counted as a vegetable or as a source of protein in the meat and bean group.What Food Group Are Legumes In? | Livestrong.com
      Legumes are of the Leguminosae family. They enclose their seeds inside their pods - these seeds are the food that we eat. When both the seed and the pod is consumed - as with green beans and snow peas - the legume is considered to be a vegetable. Under the legume umbrella we have beans, lentils, peas, and peanuts.Oct 22, 2014Difference between: beans and legumes -

  • @donaldstanfield8862
    @donaldstanfield8862 3 года назад +5

    Daly acts weird when a man taller than him appears.

  • @HelloooThere
    @HelloooThere Год назад

    Panel = snooty de la snoot